Supreme Court to Hear Plea on Facial Recognition at Protest

The Supreme Court of India on Thursday, August 13, agreed to hear a petition challenging the Delhi Police's alleged use of facial recognition technology and biometric surveillance during a recent student protest at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi. The petition, filed by Rajya Sabha Member of Parliament A.A. Rahim, argues that such surveillance is unconstitutional and operates in a legal vacuum.

A bench comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V. Mohana ordered the matter to be tagged with existing, related petitions on the issue. Senior advocate Menaka Guruswamy, representing Rahim, told the court that the police conducted facial profiling of demonstrators and that the collected data was stored by private entities without consent. "One maps your face and one is a vehicle. So spectacles are used and a vehicle is also used. And that data is all taken without permission. These private entities host the data. In violation of the rules," she submitted.

Rahim, a Communist Party of India (Marxist) lawmaker from Kerala, has petitioned the court to declare that indiscriminate biometric surveillance at peaceful public gatherings is unconstitutional. The plea seeks a...